White Long Hair Caterpillar. The skin hair is white barring the hairpencil. How harmful can a white fuzzy caterpillar with black spikes be.
The sides of the larvae have fine white trailing setae bristly hairs. If you find one crawling on a tree trunk it s probably looking for a place to make a cocoon. The whole body of this fuzzy caterpillar is covered in long fine yellow shite hairs.
Its striking fuzzy appearance is enhanced by a few long white bristles on the body.
The caterpillar has what are known as setae bristle or hair like structures on its body that are spread out in tufts. Yet another is the megalopyge crispata which has the long droopy hair but no black tufts. These hairs are what cause allergic reaction on the skin because of the toxins they contain. Hickory tussock has white colored setae over its body and also black colored tufts along the center of its back.